RACE PREVIEW

TICKET GUARDIAN 500

ISM RACEWAY

March 11th, 3:30 PM CHARLOTTE TIME FOX TV

1 MILE, TURNS 1&2 12 DEGREES, TURNS 3&4 10 DEGREES of BANKING

What a place to be for the first flat-track race of the year: a one mile flat-track where every turn is slightly different. There is no such thing as “get your car right and cruise around.” Most drivers have a good set-up for turns 1 & 2 or for turns 3 & 4. Some try to get a compromise in between both, and some drivers are simply trying to find any set-up that gets them fast and keeps them off the wall. No matter what your strategy is, this track can be very, very tough. Rookies typically struggle here. This will be the fourteenth race run on this new configuration – it has been slightly re-banked and widened with the backstretch increased. From 1988 to 2002 Ford won eleven of the fifteen races, since then Chevrolet has won 21 out of 26 races and nine of those wins were from Hendrick Motorsports. Plus four wins with one time partner Stewart Haas Racing who used their motors for a time. Speaking of Stewart Haas Racing, those wins came from driver Kevin Harvick who won four consecutive races starting in Nov 2013, that streak was broken in November of 2016 with a 2nd place finish. Over his career he has won here eight times, six on the new configuration. His last win here was this race in 2016. Coming off a win in Atlanta and win last week at Las Vegas, Bakersfield’s Kevin Harvick will be the man to beat.